Abstract 1558: Drug repurposing strategies for pancreatic cancer management

Abstract Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the currently the third leading cause of cancer related deaths and is projected to be the second leading cause by 2030. The difficulty in diagnosis and aggressiveness of the disease makes it a difficult-to-treat cancer. Currently, treatment of PDAC mainly involves use of standard chemotherapeutic combinations. Although effective, the current options do not always provide a benefit and patients develop resistance over time. Additionally, the adverse effect profile of standard regimen is a concern. Thus, novel agents which offer better clinical and survival response are urgently required. Drug repurposing is an effective strategy to overcome the limitations in current treatment options. Through drug repurposing, we identified the anti-cancer effects of a compound MBO in human PDAC cell lines AsPC-1, MiaPaCa-2, BXPC3, Panc-1 and SUIT-2. Further, we observed the ability of MBO to suppress colony formation in PDAC cell lines AsPC-1, MiaPaCa-2 and BXPC3. Additionally, MBO induced cell death by apoptosis in PDAC cell lines which was confirmed by Annexin V/FITC analysis using flow cytometry. MBO significantly suppressed tumor growth in a subcutaneous model of PDAC. Studies are currently ongoing to explore the mechanism of action as well as effect of MBO in orthotopic PDAC models. Citation Format: Shreyas R. Gaikwad, Sanjay K. Srivastava. Drug repurposing strategies for pancreatic cancer management [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1558.